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History of Now – 2020
Self-portrait film, 02:40, digital, and Hi8.
Photos: screenshots from the film.
This work is my response to the Covid-19 crisis of 2020. Instead of isolating myself in my apartment, I chose to swing a bat on the beach at night, expressing my frustrations over the lost opportunities caused by the lockdown. This situation reminded me of an old video my father recorded back in 1998. The archival footage captures an intimate moment where my mother feeds my infant sister. I try to assist them, but my awkwardness only adds stress to the room. My body language reveals disappointment and helplessness, feelings reminiscent of my experiences in 2020.
I created this self-portrait film for "History of Now," an international cinema project involving artists from Batumi Art University in Georgia and San Francisco Art Institute. Each participant produced a self-portrait film centered on the theme of the "new normal" during the 2020 global pandemic. Our three-minute retrospectives explore the formation of memory, the trajectories of our lives, and shared experiences during social distancing, which pushed people worldwide into the virtual realm for connection. While recognizing the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences of each participant, our works argue that the global pandemic has ironically fostered mutual understanding within diverse communities across the globe.



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